"Don't shout."

"What?" I whispered when I felt the strange grip loosening around my wrist. "Caden?"

I thought I had somehow been mistaken until a dimly lit bulb--the only source of light in this small room--got switched on. The faint glow of it was enough for me to make out his face.

"Do you enjoy scaring the living daylights out of me?" I exclaimed in utter disbelief. My heart was still hammering so loud, scared that it could've been anyone instead of Caden. Why couldn't he have tried being a bit normal and not dragged me inside the fucking janitor's closet?

A small smirk showed on his lips. "I thought you might like the surprise."

He was finally at school after so many days. I couldn't help but stare.

"Are you back for good?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. Something about the look in his eyes, an unusual glint, made me feel a bit cautious.

And it took me so much by surprise when his fingers, which were encircled around my wrist, went lower and took hold of my hand. Soft and slow and so sure. I tried so hard to ignore the way my face was heating up.

"If I was back," He spoke up, "I wouldn't have pulled you in here."

I blinked twice before humming shortly in response, my eyes traitorously falling down to our hands.

"Did you..." I trailed off before looking up at him. "Did you find anything about Alex?"

His green eyes darkened. "No."

I pressed my back against the door behind me.

"He came by my house." It came out a bit impassively, and I hated that. I could've felt Caden staring at me. "He dropped by before I came back from school."

"Was there anyone at your house?"

"My parents were there," I replied. "He left me a note, saying that he really wants to explain everything to me."

Caden was silent for a while. And I swallowed heavily when I saw his eyes raking over my face.

"Would you?" He asked. "Let him explain?"

I didn't know what to say to that. Would I? Would his explanation change anything?

"Maybe," I whispered, then clenched my jaw. "I don't know. I still can't wrap my head around it. Maybe I just...I just need a little time."

We both fell silent after that. A silence that wasn't comfortable at all. Caden was still holding my hand. And even though I couldn't imagine pulling away first, it still left me a little confused and a little scared.

He wasn't helping by doing stuff like this. Like that night after he had taken me away from Alex's house. I almost had a burnout thinking about the way he'd held me under the lonely, night sky. Caden had done that. How was I supposed to not pathetically fall over for him if he started doing stuff like that?

I could hear a few voices from the hallway outside--people walking towards the cafeteria; the sound of their footsteps gradually growing faint.

"I saw you back there." He spoke up all of a sudden. I realized then that this room was actually very small and the distance between us was just too little.

"Yeah?" What if he stepped closer? "Where?"

"The library. With that redhead."

I broke into a smile. He sure had a way of changing the topic, and the mood too. "The redhead's got a name. It's Brody."

"And I don't care about names, Anderson." He said. The look in his eyes was slowly making me feel a little too hot. "Looks like you gave him the wrong impression."

"About what?" I asked, and my heart skipped a beat when I felt him caress my palm.

"He looked so much into you." A smile twitched on his lips. Slow and dangerous. This was so dangerous. It felt a bit too hard to breathe and I knew I should've looked away, but it wasn't that easy. It was never easy when it came to him.

I managed to frown somehow, trying to control my erratic heartbeat. "He's just a new guy trying to make some friends."

His eyes were breathtaking. Like every other time, I found myself getting lost in them. Green and gold and so promising. It wasn't fair.

This wasn't fair to my heart.

"If he's really so desperate," He said. "I can name a thousand other people."

I rolled my eyes and gripped his hand. Perhaps I was the desperate one here. "It'd be nice making new friends, Caden," I said. "It gets lonely here sometimes. There's no Alex. It's kind of a no-talk zone between Hanna and me. You're not there either."

As if him being here would make a difference.

"You can make friends with one of those nerds."

I had this sudden urge to laugh and I failed to stifle it when a small chuckle left my lips. "What? Why?"

The small bulb above us flickered until it burned out entirely and everything went dark. Under different circumstances, I would've been scared shitless. But knowing that Caden was here right in front of me, that made it a little less scary.

"That way, your social life might not rise so fast." He answered.

Since I couldn't exactly see him now, I was glad of the little amount of warmth of his hand. "You sound jealous."

Wasn't it weird? I thought. When was the last time Caden Miller held hands with someone?

I felt him lean closer and it was a matter of seconds for every part of me to become hyper-aware. Of his presence. Of Caden. I froze.

"Or maybe." He was too close. My heart nearly crawled up my throat when I felt his warm breath across my cheek. "I just don't want you to blindly trust people."

An involuntary shiver ran down my spine when the tip of his nose grazed along my cheekbone. I wanted to lean closer. I wanted more.

"I'm...not that bad with trust." It was beyond hard forming words. My brain felt like mush, and my insides felt like mush, and it was just too difficult to comprehend what the hell was even happening.

His other hand, which wasn't holding onto my own, found my waist, slowly and surely hitching up and pulling me closer. I couldn't breathe.

What was he doing?

"Really?" His voice was a quiet whisper. "I thought you were bad at everything."

I wanted to take offence to that, I really wanted to, but his lips were so close and the soft trail of them against my jawline had me grabbing his shoulder. It made me weak in the knees.

"T-That's...rude of you." I breathed out.

"Very much." He was smiling. I felt it against my skin. And when he placed a soft kiss below my ear, his hand fisting into the back of my shirt, my breath hitched into a gasp. I was left confused and lost and wanting more.

"Caden--"

"It feels real, Sky." He murmured. "So fucking real."

I tried to stop myself, I tried thinking of anything that could've made me not do it. Give in. Because I wanted to. So fucking badly, I wanted to give in. He was so close and giving in had never felt so easy and so dangerous. Maybe I did have a thing for danger.

Before I could've pulled myself out of this trance, I pulled my hand away from his, clumsily grabbed his face, and closed the distance between our lips.

I made that mistake again. I kissed him again. And maybe it was going to come back and bite me hard in the ass a few minutes later. But I didn't think about it right then. I couldn't.

One second I was leaning against him; kissing him, and the very next, he was pushing me back against the door and kissing me. Devouring me. His hands were on me, everywhere, bunching into my sweater and slipping inside. It was messy and needy and my insides were humming in absolute fucking bliss.

Just Caden. It was just him and the kiss, so soft and desperate. Wanting more and everything. I could've given him anything at that point.

When his teeth grazed against my lower lip, I gasped into the kiss, and his tongue slipped past my lips. Hot and needy and making my head spin.

When I was sure I might pass out with the lack of air in my lungs, I pulled away an inch and slumped back against the door, my hands in his hair and on his shoulder, and not wanting to pull away more than I already had.

We both were breathing heavily. And there was just silence.

"Fuck, Sky." He breathed out, leaning close, his lips brushing against mine. Not innocently like a tease but hot, fiery, passionate and demanding. I needed to pull away before I lost myself in this, whatever this was, but I didn't. I didn't want to. I could no longer think straight.

His lips left my own and trailed lower, and my eyes fluttered shut when he began nuzzling my neck with delicate kisses. So faint, they were whispers. Soft wisps of his dark black hair swept past my ear, caressing the skin along my face, and my cheeks.

Too much. This was just too much.

My hands tangled themselves in his hair as his dug into my waist, under my sweater. Hot, it felt too hot.

"Anderson," his voice came out raspy and I felt it against my skin. "I'm two seconds away from ripping this stupid, ugly sweater off of you."

I don't understand why I started laughing then. There was no word in that sentence that should've made me laugh. But it did anyway. And Caden really just had to kiss me again to effectively shut me up.

When he pulled away, leaning his forehead against my own, both of us were panting heavily.

"It was so hard, Sky." He whispered. I wished I could see his green eyes. I wished the bulb hadn't flickered off. "This was making me crazy."

This was making me insane, I wanted to say. But I was at a loss for words.

So I just leaned against him and his hold around my waist tightened a bit. "Caden?" My voice came out small. Maybe even a bit scared. "Please don't say this was a mistake." Because what if it was? Would he start hating me again?

"It never was." He murmured.

I blinked in surprise, breaking into a smile.

"I don't...I don't understand." I whispered. "I thought you hated me."

"Clearly, Anderson." His hand crept down my waist. "I only ever kiss the people I hate."

I couldn't fucking stop smiling. Geez.

The bell rang out of nowhere, a shrill sound filling up the silence. Caden didn't pull away and neither did I. How was I to pull away after this?

"I don't think I want to go." I broke the silence. "And...I don't think I mean it in a clingy way."

He laughed softly and my insides lit up. I was in a deep mess, I thought.

He placed a small kiss on my forehead and I nearly melted against him. I never knew this side of him existed, and I think I was falling head over heels for it. I didn't know how to stop it, the strange feeling overwhelming my heart, tugging at my heartstrings.

"I don't think I can let you go." He said.

I stared at the outline of his face, blinking. How could this be any more real than a dream? Caden Miller was supposed to hate everyone's guts. I was supposed to stay away from him.

"But if I kiss you any longer," He murmured slowly, emphasizing on every word. "I don't think I'd be able to stop."

My eyes widened a little and a small sound formed at the very back of my throat. I think I had forgotten how to function properly.

"Fair enough. I should go." I managed to speak up. "Will we...will we discuss this later?"

Was it stupid that I was so pathetically hoping right now? Caden went silent and I almost instantly cursed myself for saying it out loud. Had I ruined it? Had this actually really been too good to be true?

"Sure."

I stared, nodding, and exhaled a shaky sigh. That was fine. I could do well with sure. My hand reached out to open the door behind me. But before I could've though, he grabbed me closer by my sweater once again.

His lips on mine and I breathed him in, tasted him again. He pulled away after another soft push of his lips against mine.

"Stay away from that redhead, will you?"

Safe to say, Calculus was a bitch and I hated it.

_______

Make sure to click the ★ below ↓ if you liked this chapter.

Xoxo,

Crystal 🌿